Thursday, November 1, 2012

LILAC

In 1994 I was 7, and "Grape" was the original scent of the purple colored Magic Scents Crayons from Blinney & Smith Inc. After numerous reports that kids were eating the food-scented crayons the company changed the scent for purple to "lilac". I'm proud to say I wasn't a part of the crayon-eating frenzy. I never went through that humiliating phase. Nonetheless, when I think "lilac", I instantaneously think of the smell. It doesn't want to make me eat it, but I could smell it forever. If these smelly crayons had been a part of my life, I'd have been the kid carrying around a lilac scented crayon as a kind of comfort crutch. It would have turned into a weird nervous habit. Crayon-sniffing. I only have to look at the color, and I can literally smell it without it physically being under my nose.
Syringa, the well-known Greek nymph, clearly knew the power of the fragrant lilac as well. After Pan, God of forests and fields became so enthralled with her that he took to chasing her around the forest (creepy), she turned herself into a fragrant flowering lilac bush to escape his advances. She must have thought he would have been too distracted 'stopping to smell the flowers' as they say, to continue his stalking. Although, why she thought being a flower that he distractedly sniffed was any better, I am unclear.
According to Aisling Dream Interpretation, when dreaming of the color lilac it indicates responsibility. Perhaps that's what The National Association of Dental Faculties had in mind in 1897 when they chose lilac as the profession's major color. A responsibility to keep the teeth of the masses happy and healthy. They even trim dental school graduation gowns and caps in the color. Someone had to be dreaming in lilac.
It's also said that to dream of a lilac flower whether in bloom out of doors or inside in a vase, predicts a broken friendship which will cause you heartache at the time but will subsequently prove to have been a blessing in disguise. This moves right into the fact that often times lilac is associated with first love. Generally, first loves aren't our one and only loves, and when we look back on them in latter years we're grateful they ended even though they're supposedly the most difficult of relationships to get over and move forward from. So when that first love does end, grab a couple bouquets of lilacs because the flowers share connotations of confidence and pride as well, which you're going need a good shot of when you're experiencing that very first heartbreak.
Because they bloom in early spring on the heels of a cold winter, lilac becomes a symbol of hardiness. New Hampshire chose to name the lilac it's state flower to exemplify that very thing in it's citizens and Lombard, Illinois also known as "Lilac Village" has an annual lilac festival and parade in May where the lilac is strongly associated with renewal and fresh starts.